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by Mike Caswell

A U.S. judge has found Montreal's Hans Peter Black in default after he failed to answer civil fraud charges he faces for misdirecting $17-million worth of investor money to risky Canadian penny stocks. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Mr. Black missed the deadline to respond to the charges and failed to appear before the judge as ordered. The ruling means that the SEC can seek fines and other sanctions for Mr. Black, without the need for a trial.

The order comes just five months after the SEC initiated the case against Mr. Black, accusing him of defrauding clients of his Boston investment firm, Interinvest Corporation Inc. The regulator said that he placed investor money with financially troubled companies while failing to tell investors that he had a direct interest in those companies. The SEC identified the stocks as four TSX Venture Exchange listings: Tyhee Gold Corp., Williams Creek Gold Ltd., Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. and Wi2Wi Corp.

Mr. Black had initially hired a lawyer to defend the case, but that law firm withdrew on Aug. 5, 2015, citing an irreconcilable breakdown in its engagement with Mr. Black. In a motion to withdraw, the firm said it was not possible to continue representing Mr. Black as he had ceased all communications with it. The motion did not provide any additional details.

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